Sunday

Jul 5, 2015 at 11:59 PM

The street is peppered with duplexes, with roadside couches and collections of unwanted belongings scattered here and there.

LAKELAND | The street is peppered with duplexes, with roadside couches and collections of unwanted belongings scattered here and there. People sit in front of their houses, laughing and talking, on folding chairs, cinder blocks, upturned buckets and tailgates. Music rings out through cars, cellphones and boom boxes. Children run back and forth across the road munching on snow cones and smiling while Boots on the Ground, a camo-clad group of seven people, marches along in two-by-two formation, praying loudly.Overall, it's just another Tuesday evening in Chestnut Woods. But it hasn't always been this way. According to statistics provided by the Lakeland Police Department, officers were called to Chestnut Woods for gun-related incidents 19 times last year. So far this year, officers responded to five reports of shots fired, all of which took place in January.No one has been shot since October. And everyone agrees: Boots on the Ground, the faith-based neighborhood watch group that marches through the streets in prayer, doing what it can to regulate the rising tide of violence through spreading the good word, has played a major role. "The kids are able to go out and play now without having to worry about a drive-by," said Fenisha Kirby, 43, as she cradled one of her grandbabies. "You see how quiet it is here right now? Before, you couldn't even stand out here.""We need them out here. They are getting all the demons out," 26-year-old Tamara Stanford added.LPD Assistant Chief Mike Link said that overall, it's just a very positive thing."What they are doing is interceding with the young folks who are getting involved with gang violence and helping them get involved with positive things," he said. "We will take all the help from the community we can get, and this is a help."Boots on the Ground was founded by Debbie L. Crumbley, 50. After watching wave after wave of gang activity surge through Lakeland, Crumbley said she decided she'd had enough and, with the blessing and backing of her pastor, Bethel Gospel Tabernacle's Charles Williams, began recruiting.For almost a year now the group, which fluctuates between four and 10 members, has met every Tuesday night, congregating under the street sign at the tip of the West Lakeland Chestnut Woods neighborhood. It's comprised of one street, Chestnut Woods Drive, which stretches about two-tenths of a mile before dead-ending in a cul-de-sac.Beginning their march at 6:30 on the dot, the crew, replete with camo hats, shirts and pants tucked into shined, black, combat boots, moves up and down the strip of asphalt, for an hour, non-stop, all the while belting prayers as loud as their lungs will let them. Crumbley said the group first planned to march in different areas. They started on Olive Street the first night, and then moved on to Chestnut Woods the following week and they've been there ever since."I can remember what the place was," said Crumbley, whose sister-in-law lived in Chestnut Woods when the neighborhood was first established. "It used to be a very nice place. Hardworking people lived there, just average working people … over time it changed and then a real bad decline happened." Although it is not clear exactly when the decline began or exactly what spawned it, it's safe to say the duplexes dotting Chestnut Woods Drive have been blips on the radar of law enforcement for quite some time. A search through The Ledger's database reveals a number of drug arrests, beatings, shootings and killings in the area stretching back dozens of years, and more than two decades ago, in 1994, the Lakeland Police Department opened a substation in the neighborhood in an attempt to curb the rapid rise of crime. At that point, neighbors were complaining of drug deals regularly and openly taking place on street corners, with weekends becoming a hotbed for increased violence. Although the amplified police presence may have made an impact for some time, once it was taken out, the area slowly fell off again. Link said crime in Chestnut Woods comes and goes, just like every other area. "We go in the community and work with the landlords to try and make it better for the folks living there, we take prevention and arrest measures, we get the area stabilized as best we can," Link said. As this maintenance cycle moves forward, Link said, "another area will pop up — sometimes it will pop up in Chestnut Woods, and other times not."Although this constant flux has been apparent for many years now, city officials and Chestnut Woods residents agree that over the past year and in 2015 especially, things seem to have quieted down. Lakeland Commissioner Phillip Walker, who heads the Gang Task Force for the city, said he was more than happy to bring Boots on the Ground into the GTF fold, and has been pleased with the results. "They've been aggressive in that area for some time now, and we have seen a change out there, we've seen an improvement," he said. "I don't want to say it's eradicated, but we have some semblance of control."Residents of Chestnut Woods echoed this assertion. One said that it's not making a huge difference, but "it's definitely doing a little something," adding, "it's nice to know there's still people blessing the hood."Although overall misdemeanor crimes like noise ordinance violations and criminal mischief have remained rather steady over the year, there is no denying the drop-off in violence. "Several years ago I watched several shootings," Kirby said. "Since they came I haven't seen any. We are outside now. We don't have those worries anymore."Crumbley said the group takes time after its marches to socialize with members of the community, praying with those who ask, reaching out to those who may need a hand. Shonda Clay, 42, who has been marching with the group since day one, said the socializing afterward, along with helping to clean up the neighborhood, has residents slowly coming around."When we first started they stayed away, they weren't sure," she said. "Now they call us over, they ask us to pray with them. I can see a change taking place in the community. At first they resisted us, now they embrace us."James Graham, whose teenage nephew, Tyler Knight, was recently convicted of murder in the death of DaMarco Powell in what is thought to be a gang-related shooting, said he thinks it's this commitment that has played a pivotal role in the communities turn. "We aren't just coming and leaving; we keep coming back," Graham said. "We aren't just going to come drop off gifts and leave, we are going to be here until our assignment is complete."And this is just the beginning for Boots on the Ground. Crumbley and her crew said they plan to move on to other parts of town that could benefit from their presence. Currently, the group has its eye set on North Iowa Avenue, an area that is well known for its criminal element. Crumbley is aware of the danger she and her people put themselves in, but says she won't let it slow them down. "We have no fear. God sent us and is going to be with us —we are not afraid, not at all."

[ Clifford Parody can be reached at clifford.parody@theledger.com and 863-802-7550. Follow him on Twitter @cliffordparody ]

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